ARM hits high thanks to technology in Apple iPad

Engine room: analysts say ARM's intellectual property is used in the iPad's processor

British chipmaker ARM was today tipped to be one of the biggest winners from the launch of Apple's iPad.

Shares in the Cambridge company were their highest in more than eight years, rising 6.8p to 200.4p, on speculation that ARM designed part of the technology in the touchscreen device.

Technology analysts believe ARM's intellectual property was used in the main processor and say its chips may appear elsewhere within the iPad.

"We believe Apple is an architecture licensee of ARM Holdings and the ARM architecture is at the heart of this chip," said JPMorgan analyst Sandeep Deshpande. "That all iPhone applications run on the device confirms the use of the ARM architecture as the iPhone also uses an ARM-based application processor."

PA Semi, which specialises in designing complex low-power chips and is a licensee of ARM's technology, was bought by Apple two years ago.

But Goldman Sachs warns that Cambridge Silicon Radio appears to have lost out. Analyst David Bailey believes rival Broadcom secured part of the technology which CSR would have competed for.